POLLY PORTSIDE - Polly’s birthday
Something’s tickling in her face. With her eyes still closed, Polly tries to wipe it off her nose. There it is again. Achoo! Gross, it’s making her sneeze! When she opens her sleepy eyes she’s looking right into the smiling face of her big sister. ‘Congratulations Polly, it’s your birthday,’ whispers Pippa. Her sister’s long blond hair tickles her cheeks. Polly is super happy that Pippa is finally there. She came on board a week ago and since then they’ve had a lot of fun. Polly climbs out of bed and together they roll onto the big bed of mummy and daddy.
‘I'm three years old today,’ Polly smiles, beaming from ear to ear. There are a lot of presents on the bed. Mum gives her a big kiss and dad tells her to first come to the cabin. Pippa says she has to close her eyes and takes her to the front of the boat. Polly secretly peeks between her eyelashes. The entire boat is decorated with flags and balloons. And there is something very big in cheerful gift wrapping paper in the middle of the cabin table. Pollypretends like she hasn’t seen it yet and waits for someone to tell her to open her eyes.
‘Hip hip hurray, now open your eyes!’ dad, mum and Pippa call out. Finally Polly can see it clearly. With her fingertips she explores the big thing underneath the colourful paper. It's too solid to be a teddy bear. With her little fingers she carefully tries to remove the sellotape. But then her patience runs out. She tears off the gift paper and is staring in the face of... a large yellow tiger! He looks like the tiger of her favourite book about the tiger that sleeps. The tiger is the handlebar of a balance bike. Polly’s very happy with it and can’t wait to test the tiger. But she has to be patient because they’re at anchor and Polly can’t cycle on Zouterik.
The day before yesterday they arrived in Combarro, a beautiful white Spanish town in the Ria Baixas. Phi and Karakter are anchored next to Zouterik. Polly, her mum and dad have met these other Dutch boats before in A Coruña. They also have very nice children on board. And what’s even more special: Noor from Phi had her birthday yesterday and today it’s also the birthday of Madelief from Karakter! So yesterday they’ve already eaten cake at Noor’s party and today they’ll first eat cake on Karakter and then on Zouterik. Yummy!
Polly receives many more presents. Suddenly mum’s pointing towards the very top of the mast. ‘Look’, she says, ‘Do you see the big package hanging there?’ When Polly and daddy bring the package down it turns out to be a toolbox that her big brother Paddy sent her for her birthday all the way from home. How did Paddy get his present all the way up in the mast? ‘Does he have super powers?’ Polly wonders.
In the afternoon they finally put her balance bike in the dinghy and race to the shore so that Polly can try her sleeping-tiger-bike. That’s the name Polly gave to her bike. It takes some time to get used to balancing on the tiger. Dad helps her to keep the bike straight while Polly holds the ears on the tiger’s head. It’s not easy, the tiger seems to be drowsily! The children of the other boats are also ashore and have taken their skateboards and scooters. Noor has a sister and Madelief a brother, so they all hit the little town of Combarro together on their wheels.
In the evening they all have dinner together at a restaurant. While the fathers and mothers toast and wait for the fresh fish to be served, Polly plays with Madelief, Jaap, Kiki, Noor and of course Pippa. Polly feels like she’s been given a whole new family! It’s the best birthday she’s ever had. Polly is exhausted after such a busy day. Mummy tucks her in. The tiger stands guard in the gangway of Zouterik. Watching over Phi, Karakter and all of Polly’s new friends.
